Valentin van der Meulen’s Erased Portraits

Whether in charcoal or oil, Valentin van der Meulen crafts a painstakingly detailed image and then purposely destroys it. The artist often depicts subjects who are in agony. In his “Erased Painting” series, each person dons a strained expression that van der Meulen wipes away in an almost therapeutic fashion. Van der Meulen’s works are caught amid an endless cycle of creation and destruction, set somewhere after the latter begins and the former ends. Take a look at some of his work below.